Eric Robinson and dark money: Behind the books, not the message

Eric Robinson is one of the go-to accountants for a new brand of political campaign where unlimited cash from labor unions, corporations and wealthy individuals flows into Political Actions Committees, or PACs, and is used to pay for attack ads and mailers designed to undermine the credibility of political opponents with little regard for the truth. Robinson insists he plays no part in drafting controversial ads and mailers. HERALD-TRIBUNE STAFF PHOTO / MIKE LANG

While his name is connected to some of the dirtiest, most negative political races in Southwest Florida and elsewhere in the state, Eric Robinson says his hands are clean.

He’s just the accountant — not in charge of content, he says.

All he and his employees do all day is record incoming donations and send out checks. He doesn’t plot strategy or design attack ads and mailers. Mac Stevenson, a political consultant who runs an Ellenton company called Political Insights, handles that for local contests. Stevenson acknowledged that Robinson played no role in coming up with wording.

“I’m not the defender of truth, honor and the American way,” Robinson said. “I can’t be the guy who’s the mailer police.”

Rather than some shady character in the area of “dark money,” as his critics say, Robinson argues he’s the only one shedding light on the system.

“I’m the guy who’s not hiding,” he said. “I’m the one who shows where the checks come from and where they go.”

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Thanks to his ledger entries, it is possible to get an idea of who is donating to PACs and how that money is being used.

The region’s largest real estate developers, for example, also happen to be the biggest contributors to PACs focused on races in Sarasota and Manatee counties.

Home builder Pat Neal contributed $510,000 to PACs managed by Robinson. That represents a quarter of all money flowing into PACs focused on Southwest Florida campaigns since 2010.

The next largest donor, Manatee County-based Benderson Development Co., chipped in $57,000, while Manatee County home builder Carlos Beruff, now a candidate for U.S. Senate, added $52,000.

Money from these developers contributed mightily to defeating incumbent Manatee County commissioner Joe McClash in 2012, elections records show. They also helped to end Richard DeNapoli’s bid for the Florida House in 2014 and Ken Marsh’s run for the Sarasota County School Board that same year.

What is harder to determine from records filed by Robinson, though, is whether funds from local developers paid for the mailers falsely accusing McClash — a Catholic and lifelong Republican — of favoring abortion and Obamacare, or claiming that DeNapoli had faked his military service.

That’s the way developers want it, said Cathy Antunes, a political activist and one of Robinson’s harshest critics. They do not want to be directly associated with negative and untruthful political campaigns.

“They want plausible deniability,” she said.

But in some cases, donors are not even satisfied with that level of cover, Antunes said. They want complete anonymity.

Speaking at a Manatee County Tiger Bay luncheon in May, Antunes said Robinson helps clients achieve this deception in several ways: He assists them in setting up dummy corporations that cannot be traced to a single human being and he shuffles funds from one PAC to another — making it extremely difficult for the general public to trace the flows.

In July 2013, for example, Manatee Against Taxation — a PAC set up by Robinson — spent money on advertising and mailers to defeat the referendum that would have increased health care funding for Manatee’s poorest residents.

Financial documents filed with the Florida Division of Elections show that about $65,000 came into the PAC at the end of June from another PAC Robinson managed — Committee to Protect Florida’s Seniors.

The Committee to Protect Florida’s Seniors, in turn, received the money from a third PAC — Veterans for Conservative Principles, which is directed by Tallahassee political operative David Ramba. And Ramba’s PAC received the funds from a company called Greenpoint Investors LLC.

But even after sifting through financial records for all three PACs, a member of the general public would be none the wiser. That is because it is impossible to tell who is behind Greenpoint and why they were so adamant about denying health benefits to the poor. All that is known about the company is that it shares the same address as the Williams Parker law firm in Sarasota.

The same is true of Phoenix Media LLC, another mysterious company that contributed $75,000 to block Lourdes Ramirez from a seat on the Sarasota County Commission in 2014. All that’s known about Phoenix Media is that it has a post office box in Venice, Robinson’s hometown.

“In Sarasota, a small group of people pull the strings,” she said. “They want to control our government. If you threaten their livelihood, they will go after you.”

‘Boundaries of propriety’

Neal, the biggest contributor to PACs managed by Robinson, said he does not know who is behind Greenpoint or Phoenix Media either.

The Lakewood Ranch-based home builder said he backs pro-growth candidates focused on making sure Southwest Florida residents have access to jobs.

“I spend a third to half my life trying to get things through government,” Neal said. “I try to develop good working relationships with its representatives.”

When it comes to resorting to lies to win elections, Neal says he does not approve.

“We should be correct and act within the boundaries of propriety,” he said. “I have not been involved with the content of advertisements. But we should take greater control and make sure those efforts are managed properly.”

Despite the obvious success of dark money finance in local races and across the country, few people in the business will tell you they are happy with the rules.

Stevenson, the political operative who penned attack ads and mailers used in local elections, says the rules are “corrupting” and need to be changed. Mike Bennett, Manatee County’s supervisor of elections, said the same thing. So did Keith Fitzgerald, a New College political science professor and former Democratic member of the Florida House.

There should be no such thing as anonymous donations, Fitzgerald said. In a free society, people should stand up and say what they believe without having to resort to dummy corporations or elaborate shell games.

“There don’t have to be limits on campaign contributions,” Fitzgerald said. “But where money is coming from should be made instantly available to everyone.”

As it stands now, that is not the way the rules are written. And even Fitzgerald acknowledges that politicians cannot afford to be high-minded when it comes to winning elections.

“If you’re going to do well in politics,” he said, “you have to play by the rules.”

Last modified: August 26, 2016
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